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Friday, August 10, 2012

A Weekend Packed with Beer Events

It's been a busy week and I didn't have time to bust out an original blog post. I'm working on an analysis of the current state of brewery growth, but it will require a bit more thought and will have to wait for next week. Weekend blog traffic sucks, anyway.

In the meantime, we have come to the time of summer when everyone wants to get some sort of special event or festival in before the dreaded Labor Day partition. Attendance at weekend events gets a little dicey once school and football get rolling. The time is now.

Up North, the Vancouver Brewfest runs today and tomorrow. The beer list looks pretty good. More importantly, it's good to see movement on the craft beer front up in the Couv. As some of us were saying on Facebook yesterday, our friends on the other side of the Columbia are ripe for an explosion of great beer. That's not to say they have nothing at present; it's just that they will support much more. Angelo had a nice write-up on this event yesterday. Take it away.

A little closer to home, you can tap into the Humulus Maximus Festivus up at Plew's Brews in North Portland. It's just what it sounds like...a hops festival. They are pouring 22 single, double and imperial IPAs. The tasting glass apparently features a new Ninkasi design. It'll cost you $5. Tickets are $1...one ticket for a taste, four for a full glass. It's on Friday and Saturday.

Adding to the weekend insanity, Hopworks is holding their 4th Annual Biketobeerfest on Saturday at the Powell headquarters. They'll have live music, food, bike games and competitions and, oh yeah, 15 HUB beers. Being bike-friendly is a huge part of the Hopworks identity, so this event is right up their alley. Biketoberfest runs 2:00 to 10:00 p.m.

Also, The Bite of Oregon is happening this weekend at Waterfront Park. This event has been around for 40 years and has a solid following. To my way of thinking, The Bite is much more focused on food and wine than on beer. The beer list is decent, although this is largely a gateway festival from a craft beer angle. Still, it's a great chance to enjoy great food and your beverage of choice in sunny Waterfront Park.

Finally, they're holding the Migration Logo Evolution party over at Migration Brewing. It kicks off Saturday at 2 p.m. If you aren't in the know, Migration decided to "evolve" their logo and brand identity due to a cease and desist order filed by the Multnomah Athletic Club. True enough...the old Migration logo looked similar to the MAC logo. I don't know how anyone could confuse the two entities, but Migration decided to skip the legal fees and simply change their look. They'll celebrate on Saturday.